A World Before Us
by spheeris1
Summary: AU :: Spencer POV :: Some angst, some romance, some super-hero antics :: Three/four part thing :: Heroes don't get to sleep at night. And neither do those who love them. :: COMPLETE
1. damsel in distress

_Ah yes, you've read about things like this: falling in love._

_And maybe you've got that white picket fence. And maybe you've got those kids, too._

_Saturday night is date night - 6 p.m. at that little Italian bistro - and you hold hands._

_Or... maybe you don't._

_Maybe you sit there in silence, bored out of your mind and still not willing to walk away._

_Because they work long hours._

_Because you work long hours._

_Because the trash didn't get taken out and an ex shows up out of the blue and a billion other things happen that make you second guess this whole matter._

_Maybe you tempt yourself with the idea of running away._

_Or, better yet - and more realistic - you sit alone at night, while they sleep (or while they are still at the office... or so you think, so you hope), and you imagine the life you could have had._

_Ah yes, you've read about things like this: an adventuresome life._

_Where peril is merely an instigator to action and no one gets hurt (but they sure as hell come close) and passion is a constant - a mysterious pair of lips against your own, desperate and dear, pulling you under like the tide._

_Maybe that is what you think about, what you daydream about, what you wish would fall out of the sky and into your lap._

_Maybe you want to trade in domesticity for something better... something bigger... something more like what you've read and less of what you know._

But if Spencer ever meets a person like this, she might just have to haul off and hit them.

/ / /

She was just your average girl, really. It was her last year of high-school and she didn't care much for the rules at this point - if she wanted to skip a class or two, she would. Her grades were good. Her parents were pleased. And her life - with college on the horizon, a major in art history - was truly ready to begin.

She laid on the beach, listening with one ear to the ocean and the waves rolling in... and, with the other ear, the tiny ear-bud of her MP3 player (which seemed to be perpetually looping The Church's 'Under the Milky Way'). She felt the sun bake her skin, turning her flesh golden and washing her blonde hair out even more. She could smell the coconut of her lotion and it caused her to sigh happily.

Her cell phone was off. Her flip-flop sat beside her, one on top of the other, as lazy as she was feeling.

A perfect day, that's how Spencer remembers it.

Of course, they say that a memory cannot be trusted, because you shape it in your own fashion - make it better than it was, re-tool it to fit what you want to see - and maybe that is true.

Maybe that is how Spencer **wants** to recall that day, the last day of her normal, everyday, silly little life.

A tiny slice of what could have been before all hell broke loose.

/ / /

Yes. Hell.

Hell being the ground barely shuddering, the kind of sensation you could have missed easily, and Spencer did miss it - eyes still shut and music still playing.

But then it got more pronounced and she fluttered her eyelids until they opened, blinking at the beautiful blue sky.

All was quiet again and she had almost convinced herself that she must have made it up.

However, when the far end of the beach rumbled to distorted life - like a bomb going off, but underground - Spencer bolted up from her towel.

She thought it was an earthquake. A huge fucking earthquake, the kind they make films about and that star Tom Cruise, that's what she thought.

And she tried to recall all those things they tell you to do, but - honestly - what could she do but stand there and let the world shake her to death?

Her gaze, though, was fixed on the sand as it billowed up and as the ground split and how the surface of the beach was cracking like being broken in half. She was frozen in muted terror, unable to look away and unable to run for her life. Spencer was going to die, right here and on this beach and on this perfect damn day.

Well, that's what would have happened had a girl named Ashley Davies not shown up.

The breath in Spencer's lungs was trapped, but strong arms wrapped about her waist and dislodged the air, which left Spencer's mouth in a scream... a scream that sounded a lot like '_what the fuck is going on?_'.

And Spencer watched the shoreline grow more and more distant from her wide-eyed stare.

As if she were being catapulted into the atmosphere, a stone in a sling-shot.

"Don't let go of me, okay? Just **don't **let go."

That voice was the last thing Spencer heard before passing out.

/ / /

_"Ashley, what are you __**thinking**__?"_

_"Uh, hello, saving someone. Isn't that the whole point?"_

_"You're supposed to set them down at a hospital or something. Not bring them home. She's not a stray dog."_

_"I know that, Kyla. God, lighten up."_

_"No, you don't get it. We've kept this all quiet for a long time and by bringing this girl here, you are jepardizing everything."_

_"Look, you saw what happened out there... Our 'quiet' is all over, Kyla. We've already been found."_

_"...Do you really think that was meant for you?"_

_"Yes. I mean, it was going to happen sooner or later, right? Dad always said so."_

_"I was just hoping that was senility speaking."_

_Spencer stays silent, keeps her eyes closed tight, and continues to listen to two girls talk from somewhere to her right._

_And she tries to process what has just occurred. And she can't. Not at all._

_"Okay. First things first, what are you going to do about her?"_

_"Oh. Well, I, um, I didn't think that far ahead..."_

_"Surprise, surprise."_

_"I could blindfold her I suppose..."_

_Spencer's heart-beat goes into overdrive at that point and she is panicking, not sure where she is or who she is with... or how she got here. Because she seems to remember someone grabbing her and then being up in the air - and that can't be real? Can it?_

_"Yea, that won't freak her out or anything."_

_"You got a better idea?"  
"Sure. Don't have her here in the first place."  
"That's really irrelevant now, Kyla. Not helping."_

_"Fine. Uh, we could chloroform her...?"_

_"...__**Excuse**__ me?"_

_Spencer's eyes fly open then and she sits up, startling both the girls - who are only about thirty feet away, standing close to one another._

_"Oh shit..." The one girl exclaims, dark gaze looking anxious. The other girl, who also looks a tad worried, doesn't say anything - she just keeps watching Spencer._

_And Spencer blinks at the both of them, trying to find some way out of this situation._

_She could scream. Or try to out-run them. Or, if she had to, she could try and fight them off. Her brothers both take karate and taught her some moves, it might work. Right?_

_"Do something." One of them hisses and Spencer flashes her terrified stare back and forth between them._

_And one of the girls steps forward slowly, smiling a bit._

_"So, how are you feeling?" The girl asks and Spencer swallows hard, not sure if she should talk or not. The girl quirks her eyebrow and the smile grows a bit, turning a shade amused._

_"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" The girls questions and Spencer keeps on staring, the tension spreading out in her body like wild-fire._

_You should run now, the voice in her head says. You should run and knock that girl down, the voice says. You should take a chance and get the fuck out of here, the voice begs._

_"Maybe she is in shock." The other girl supplies._

_"Nah. I mean, that happened earlier."_

_"What? It can't happen more than once or something?"_

_"Nope."_

_"Liar."_

_"Am not."_

_"Are too."_

_"Am not."_

_"Are too."_

_Both girls roll their eyes and Spencer isn't sure what to think at all. Because they don't act like killers. Or kidnappers. Or whatever Spencer was imagining them to be._

_They act like siblings. They sound like her brother, Glen, and herself. And some of the tension leaves Spencer's muscles, just a bit... just a little bit..._

_"I'm... not in shock." Spencer says softly and they both look at her. The girl closest to her grins then and spares a moment to stick her tongue out at the other girl._

_"Right, as always." The girl says and the other girl just crosses her arms, looking faintly annoyed._

_"I'm not in shock and... and I want to leave here. Now." Spencer states with more determination. Shaky determination, but determination nonetheless._

_The girls look at each other as if having a conversation without speaking and the darker-haired girl stalks off in a huff suddenly._

_And that leaves Spencer with just the one girl, the one closest, who is still smiling some and who is much closer than before. And Spencer scrambles up to her feet, backing away and turning her hands into fists._

_"Whoa there, killer... I'm not going to hurt you."  
"I don't know you, so how can I believe you?"_

_"Hey, I saved you, you know..."_

_"Saved me?"_

_"You would be like the dinosaurs if I hadn't carried you off."_

_"Be like the... wait a minute, what?"_

_"Oh, yea, I keep forgetting that you conked out during the flight."_

_"...Are you telling me that... that you and I... in the air? That was __**real**__?"_

_The girl holds out her hand and nods towards it, outstretched before Spencer's bewildered stare._

_"C'mon and I'll show you."_

/ / /

And, against all better judgment, Spencer reached out with equal parts trepidation and curiosity... and she took that hand in her own.

And, just like that, that other life - with college and art and all the things that could have happened - just faded away.

_"Oh, I'm Ashley by the way. Ashley Davies."_

_The hand tugged gently and Spencer was pulled along to a what looked like a stone shaft, running high up above them, hollow and dark. And this girl named Ashley Davies faced her, bringing their bodies close. Uncomfortably close. Uncommonly close. So close that Spencer couldn't help but look into Ashley Davies steady gaze as those slightly familiar arms curled about her waist again._

_Ashley's face tilted forward, lips warm against Spencer's ear._

_And Spencer couldn't help but shiver just a bit... and she didn't even bother to ask why she shivered in the first place._

_"Going up." Ashley whispered._

And then they were, up and up, and Spencer closed her eyes and she clung so tightly to Ashley's body. But the darkness rapidly receded and she could feel sunlight pushing against her eyelids - and Spencer heard Ashley shout out, jubilant and pleased... and Spencer forced herself to look, to see, to make sure she wasn't completely crazy.

And she wasn't. Far from it, in fact.

They were flying. In the air. With all of L.A. below them, beyond the smog and in the clouds, like birds. Or planes.

Spencer darted her gaze everywhere at once, hair whipping around her face, and - quite unexpectedly - she found her lips turning upward.

She found herself grinning like a kid on Christmas.

And, really, you would have reacted the same way... You know you would have. Because people aren't meant to fly and, yet, there you are - soaring along without wings.

There you are, breaking a known rule, and you aren't falling. You aren't crashing.

You are **flying**.

And, right at that moment, Spencer Carlin didn't mind her world changing.

She kind of liked it.

_"Ready to land?"_

_"Uh, sure..."_

_"It would be really great if you could keep this quiet, you know..."_

_"Like anyone would believe me." Spencer muttered and Ashley smirked in response._

_"True... you know, I told you my name, but I don't know yours..." Ashley said lightly as she tipped them back, placing Spencer above the girl and bringing them even further into contact. Spencer felt like she was blushing, which she never did. And she didn't want to know why she was doing so now._

_And Spencer wasn't sure if she should say her name either. If she did, then she could be found by this girl. And she didn't even know what was going on - all that conversation she over-heard, none of it making sense... But she knew it would be stupid to get involved. Really stupid. Supremely idiotic._

_Ashley suspended them there, in mid-air, hovering weightless and Spencer could feel all the places where they touched - hip bones and stomach, chests and thighs - it was terribly intimate._

_And, somehow, the truth just came out._

_"Spencer Carlin." _

_"Well, Spencer Carlin... it was my upmost pleasure to rescue you today."_

And, with that comment, Ashley let them tumble out of the sky, faster and faster, but this time - this time, Spencer did not close her eyes.

But she didn't look around either.

She stared straight at Ashley and the girl started straight back, the strands of their hair almost tangling together - a metaphor before they had even taken the next step.

And Ashley grinned.

And Spencer did, too.

/ / /

**TBC**

**Yea, I've got way too many stories going on [lol]. The perils of having an over-active fandom mind.**


	2. super hero daze

Everything changed then and it wasn't just Spencer's life, either.

It was like you could wake up, just a regular morning... or so you think. You get your coffee. You grab that newspaper. You eat your toast or cereal or whatever. And you think that the world outside your front door is still as it was. But then you step out there and realize nothing is the same.

Spencer would replay the bits and pieces of that conversation between Ashley and the other girl as the reports on television became more frantic, more confused. A mall in L.A. is practically demolished and, surprisingly, it looks like some pissed-off guy just put his fist down upon it. And that is not a joke.

A really pissed-off guy did just that. People got hurt. People flipped out. Footage was everywhere as this guy rampaged, turning buildings to dust like Spencer might crush an ant - easily.

When the late-night news came on and showed two girls fighting the guy (whom the media decided to dub 'The Crusher'), Spencer's breath caught in her throat and threatened to suffocate her.

Because, in her own way, those moments... from the beach shattering around her to being up in the sky to being held insanely close by a girl who can fly... Spencer sort of tried to lock them away.

Lock them away and almost pretend that it didn't happen.

And, really, what that meant was that Spencer couldn't stop thinking about it. About her. About Ashley Davies.

Ashley Davies, who was being thrown across a parking lot as cameras rolled tape endlessly.

Ashley Davies, who got up - not a limp, not a cut - and rushed faster than can be seen by the naked eye. All anyone could see was The Crusher pitch backwards, hitting a wall and being buried under brick.

Ashley Davies, a girl who can fly and who can beat up super-men and who can get up from any fall, any hit...

The other girl walked over then, calm and collected - or so it seemed as Spencer watched, transfixed.

And that girl reached down, picking up The Crusher - actually picking him up, holding him in the air like it was nothing - and the cameras zoomed in.

Closer and closer, until you could almost hear the words coming from the girl's mouth, every reporter silent and waiting... just waiting.

And Spencer waited, too. Her whole family was there, waiting.

Probably the whole damn world was waiting, wondering if what they were watching was actually going on.

The Crusher struggled and twisted and the girl seemed to grip him tighter, fingers around his neck.

And Spencer watched as Ashley lingered back, arms crossed and head tilted downward.

All the cameras didn't focus on her, but on the other girl as The Crusher was dropped and then punched so hard that you could see his head snap painfully to the left.

And then it dropped, listless and lifeless.

Spencer saw all of this, but she was really staring at Ashley.

Ashley Davies, who slowly reached out and pulled the other girl away and pushed off lightly on one foot, carrying them away and out of sight.

"What the fuck was that?" Glen exclaimed.

"Glen. Language." Their mother chastised.

And Spencer got up. And she walked upstairs to her bedroom. And she laid down for the night, still dressed and on top of the comforter.

And she ran the images through her head, over and over, idly wondering if this was really just some prolonged and strange dream. Not a reality at all, but a figment within her head.

But, of course, it wasn't a dream.

Not by a long shot.

/ / /

_Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick._

_Spencer's face scrunched up, annoyed. And she turned over, trying to burrow under a blanket. But there wasn't one and she angrily forced her eyes open._

_She was on top of her bed. She was clothed._

_She blinked, trying to recall why she was sleeping in the outfit she wore to school._

_Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick._

_She looked at her clock, which was digital, and wondered why it suddenly decided to make noises like an old-fashioned clock._

_It was three in the morning._

_Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick._

_And Spencer's brow furrowed sleepily as she tried to figure the sound out, standing up on tired legs and following the 'ticking' to the window._

_To the window with someone outside of it._

_To the window with someone outside of it - right outside of it, even though it is a second-story window. And there is no roof. There is no trellis to scale._

_Just a whole bunch of air._

_Except... not that night. Outside of Spencer's window on that night is Ashley Davies._

_"Uh... what are you...?"_

_"Doing here?"_

_"Yes."  
"Just wanted to say hello."_

_"Hello?"_

_"Hi."_

_"No, I mean... that's what you are here for? At three in the morning? To say __**hello**__?"_

_"Oh. Well, yea. And to say that you don't have to keep quiet anymore. There was an incident today and my secret isn't much of a secret anymore."_

_"That was some, uh, incident..."  
"Saw that did you?"_

_"...Who are you?"_

_"Told you, I'm Ashley Davies."_

_"No, I mean seriously... who __**are**__ you? Is it like, I don't know, X-Men or something?"_

_Ashley's laugh cascaded into the night and Spencer ignored how good it sounded. Because it did, you know? It sounded just like a laugh should - genuine, warm, slightly affectionate._

_"Nah. Truth is, Spencer Carlin... I'm Batman."_

_And Ashley's grin was so wide, so full of snark, that Spencer found her eyes rolling in amused irritation._

_More amused than irritated, really._

_"Well...uh, 'Batman', you've said hello... so, what now?"_

_"Oh, you know, whatever... Wanna go for a spin in the Batmobile?"_

_"...Do you really have one?"_

_Ashley laughed again and beckoned Spencer closer, palm up and waiting._

_Just waiting as Spencer took a deep breath. Just waiting as Spencer glanced at her bedroom door, thinking of the parents down the hall and the brothers fast asleep._

_This is crazy, that is what the voice says. You've seen what she is capable of, the voice reminds. Don't do this, the voice states._

_And Spencer shoved it all away, sliding her hand into Ashley's._

_Because it felt right. Because it felt good. Because the delicate touch of their hands coming together was better than any other moment Spencer could recall._

_"Where would you like to go?" Ashley whispered and their eyes met._

_"Anywhere..." Spencer hushed out._

_"I love anywhere." Ashley softly replied, hands firm upon Spencer's back, and she set them to soaring._

/ / /

It made some kind of crazy sense, back then, back when they first met.

That's what love can do to you - it will make the ridiculous seem perfectly fine and the dangerous seem perfectly safe.

And things were dangerous back then. Incredibly so. And, still, Spencer didn't care. Not really. Because she was in love - head over heels in love with that girl who was master of the skies.

Once she got Ashley to tell her everything - how a father built them, Ashley and her sister Kyla, from splices of DNA and genetically-enhanced hormones and some kind of technology that no one had ever heard of before; how Ashley ran away one day, at the age of seven, and as she ran faster her feet lost touch with the ground - and she didn't tell a single soul for years; how Kyla, upset over some affront, smacked Ashley's face and the girl barreled through a wall...

...Once Spencer knew it all - how the sisters laid low and pretended to be 'normal', going to school and going on dates... but never fully fitting in, always nervous about when an ability would pop up at the wrong moment and then their lives would be fodder for the entire universe; how their father had warned them of a time when they would have to step up and be more than girls, more than daughters... they would have to be heroes, that's what they were made for... that's why they were created...

...Once Spencer knew the facts, knew that Ashley's life would forever be spent in service to the whole of the world, knew that - with every day, every hour, every minute - someone would be trying to harm the one she so adores... Spencer should have walked away.

That voice said to run. That voice said to save herself the agony to come. That voice said so much and Spencer listened so little.

Because she was in love.

And love is the most dangerous thing of all.

/ / /

**TBC**


	3. the villain is you

You'd think that, after the fourth or fifth time, it would become commonplace. But no - getting grabbed as you walk out of a supermarket or left dangling like a carrot from a ten-story building... it never grows old.

Spencer is always terrified. Spencer is always thinking that this time will be the final time.

And Ashley won't be as fast. And Ashley won't get there in nick of time. And Ashley won't be the net to catch her.

Because one of many perils of being involved with a girl who can't be hurt physically is that that ability does not extend to anyone else.

They can't hurt Ashley. You bounce her into a wall and she bounces right back.

But those fearsome foes, the ones that the media eats up (_unless they get killed in the process, which has happened... you would think they would learn, but they never do_), they aren't just stupid bags of super-human bones. If they cannot hurt Ashley, they hurt those Ashley cares for.

And so Spencer was kidnapped the first time by one particular thorn in the Davies sisters collective sides, a woman the media decided to name 'The Silent Shadow'. This woman could slip up on you and engulf you in darkness, sort of trapping you in a nightmare, so that you'd slowly go insane.

Spencer almost did, you know. She almost lost her mind in there, tortured by all her disconnected horrors - being chased by zombies or, even worse, watching her parents die in the most gruesome of ways...

Spencer would scream and scream for it to stop.

And all she would hear is distant laughter, echoing around the blackness.

That first time, when Ashley's face pushed past the hollowness and let the light back in, Spencer felt true relief.

And she fell apart in Ashley's arms, taking no notice of the rush of air along their bodies, reveling in the strong embrace that held her and the repeated kisses to her face and Ashley's tearful gaze that just wouldn't leave Spencer's own weak stare.

That first time, with Ashley saving her - again, Spencer felt protected.

But it just didn't stop.

It just doesn't stop.

There is always another 'bad' guy. Or girl. Or a whole fucking group of them. And once they know Spencer's face, they target her.

They target her and, no matter Ashley's begging or Kyla's suggestions, Spencer cannot just live a life hidden away.

Although, on days like today, she wishes she had stayed locked away.

Behind closed doors, with bolts and bars and security codes... Or, better yet, years and years ago - before this world altered so dramatically and turned into one large damn comic book, back when she was a little girl and her father fixed every injury.

Yea, Spencer would go back there if she could.

But that's just a fantasy.

The reality is that number seven is happening right now: she is strapped down to a chair and this man is pressing his fingers, hard, onto the sides of her head and her brain feels a lot like it is on fire.

_I think... he is... melting... my mind..._

Just forming that thought alone makes it feel even worse.

And he is trying to find something, digging around in her memories, and it is probably to find out where the Davies sisters reside (_they all want to know that little tidbit_).

And, thankfully, like ever other time... the walls bust in and dust is everywhere and Spencer feels slightly better when his touch is jerked away... but she's gotten to the place where Ashley's broken looks don't mean as much as they used to.

Spencer allows her body to be pulled away, but she doesn't respond to Ashley's questioning.

She is flown away from the scene of the crime, as usual, and another piece of her is left behind.

/ / /

_The images just wouldn't go away and Spencer feared that she'd always carry them with her, always see them play out again and again._

_And Ashley, good and sweet and borderline paranoid Ashley, she wouldn't let Spencer out of her sight after that._

_A trip to the gas station became an elaborate production, with dark sunglasses and Kyla stalking the pumps and Spencer rolling her eyes as Ashley hovered by her side - shooting glares to everyone._

_But, deep down, Spencer kind of appreciated it. She didn't want to ever go through that kind of thing again._

_And when the visions wouldn't leave Spencer alone, she would quickly pull up the mental photograph of Ashley Davies on that day - gripping Spencer tightly and soft lips firm against her own - she pulled up that memory of Ashley... _

_"Spencer... Jesus, when I saw you there and I thought you were... You wouldn't answer me and I thought you were-"_

_"It's okay, Ashley. It's... I'm okay..."_

_"Are you sure?"_

_"I...guess so. I think so."_

_"Kyla can check you out. And I promise you, Spencer, I __**promise**__ you... I won't let anyone hurt you. I won't. I'd rather die first."_

_"Don't say that, please. You... you saved me. Again."_

_"I'll __**always**__ be there, Spencer. You can count on me. You'll never have to worry about falling, because I'll be there to catch you."_

_And those lips returned, kissing and savoring Spencer like wine as they gently cascaded out of the heavens._

_Back to Earth._

_Back to the madness of a world that needed heroes because they had created villains._

/ / /

Her parents freaked out, of course.

If it had been a normal day, with all those normal things going on, Spencer figured it would have been her mother all worried over her dating a girl. And her father would have been a more understanding. Her brothers probably would have found it kind of hot - then would have been disturbed that they connected their only sister with something 'sexy'.

Instead, it was a shouting match over the fact that Spencer was dating Ashley Davies, a girl who can fly and beat up men five times her size. Spencer was, quite literally, involved romantically with danger.

Glen found it cool. Clay found it cool, but with a side-dish of concern. Her father was trying to be calm, but you could tell that he was seriously questioning Spencer's judgment.

And her mother... her mother lost it.

And, really, who wouldn't get a tad upset if they found out their child was dating someone like Ashley Davies?

The girl thing was small in comparison to the 'super-hero' thing in Paula Carlin's eyes.

"You could get **hurt**!"

"I won't, okay? I am fine!"

"Spencer, I won't allow it, you hear me? I **won't** allow it!"

"You can't stop me."

"Yes I can!"

"No, you can't! God, Mom, I am **in love **with her!"

"You are just caught up, that's all... Just caught up like everyone else..."

"No, you don't get it. You just don't get it."

"I swear to you, if you continue this relationship with this Ashley-"

"What? What are you saying?"

They stared at each other, daring the other one to slam that final nail in and cause that defining moment of regret.

Everyone else was silent, waiting... just waiting.

Her mother walked out of the room.

And Spencer ran upstairs, shoving clothes into a bag, dialing up Ashley's phone number from the cell that the girl gave her - so as to prevent tracing.

"Spence?" Ashley voice, as always, was on high-alert.

"Come get me. I...I need to stay with you."

And so she did, for one night. Then two. Then several more. And then for longer than that.

Her parents stayed in touch, in a fashion. Her father would send letters through Glen and Glen delivered them at school. She read them in the bathroom, stall door locked shut.

But they didn't talk to her. And she didn't talk to them.

Love will do that, sometimes. It'll put you in the position of rock and hard place, of having to choose.

And, at the time, Spencer made the only choice she wanted to see.

Ashley Davies trumped all.

/ / /

_It had been a month since The Silent Shadow and the nightmares were slowly fading away. _

_Spencer slept in Ashley's bed most nights, comforted by the arm around her waist. And every time, she'd turn quietly in those arms and watch Ashley sleep... just for a little while... and Spencer would consider herself so lucky to be the one to capture this girl's heart._

_"Go back to sleep." Ashley's murmured and Spencer grinned to herself._

_"Can't. I am occupied with something."_

_"Yea?"_

_"Yea."_

_Ashley's eyes are still closed and that arm moved so languidly, fingers brushing against Spencer's ribcage - under the t-shirt - and Spencer shuddered._

_And she listened intently as Ashley's breathing seemed to become fast and she wondered if it would match the way the girl could speed around the world, five seconds flat._

_"I love you." Ashley whispered, sudden and tender, in the early morning that still could be called night._

_And it pierced Spencer's armor, whatever was left of it, and she barreled forward and she pushed Ashley onto her back and Spencer learned what it felt like to truly touch perfection - her tongue dipped low and took what it wanted, all of Ashley's essence and all of Ashley's moans and all of Ashley's love... Spencer took it all._

_Spencer took it all and made it a part of her own soul._

/ / /

"I hate to say this, Ash... but maybe... maybe it is for the best..."  
"Kyla!"

"Look, just... I mean, it'll just keep getting worse, you know? And what if..."

"...What if... **what**?"

"What if you are too late one day?"

"No. I won't be. Not ever."

"You can't **know** that, Ash. And I know that if something were to happen to her, you'd lose it... and I can't lose you. I **can't** do this on my own."

"No one is going to lose anyone, okay? You won't lose me and I won't lose her. **Got it**?"

Spencer hears twin sighs and twin tones of anger, of frustration, of anxiousness.

And she stays in that bed, pretending to be asleep as two sisters argue.

And she wonders what her brothers are up to, what her parents are up to, what that other life is up to... And Spencer wonders if it is time to walk away.

To walk away before anyone else gets hurt.

Before Ashley and Kyla disagree even more. Before another letter can express sorrow in her father's hand. Before another day can go by without her mother's voice or Glen's smile or Clay's hugs.

Before the day comes when Spencer won't be caught and she'll end up just another victim on the eleven o'clock news.

And Spencer wonders if she can actually do it, if she can ever cut ties with the girl she loves... even if the girl she loves is the reason for all this mess.

Can she walk away from her heart? Can she turn away from her soul?

And can she afford not to do just that?

The bed shifts and a kiss is placed to the back of Spencer's neck, Ashley's body like an oven against Spencer's back.

"Guess you heard that." Ashley says quietly.

"...Uh, yea."

"I can protect you, Spence. I can."

And even if Spencer had an answer, she didn't have time to give it.

Kyla's voice echoes out, sounding the call, and there are new enemies to face and new dangers to battle. Ashley's subtle touch slips away again.

And, this time, Spencer keeps her gaze dead ahead. She doesn't watch Ashley leave.

She doesn't budge an inch at the sound of running feet.

She stays, frozen, in this bed that has held all her devotion and all her tears, all her dead dreams and all her girlish whims.

And, once again, Spencer Carlin is at the center of the world as it is about to change.

Only this time... it is down to her.

/ / /

**TBC**


	4. happily ever after

Nothing feels right about it, though.

Not the clothes in her bag and not the walk from the bedroom to the front door. Not the sunshine in the sky, nor the taxi that picks her up - blaring Middle Eastern music.

Nothing feels right about this and Spencer knows it and she shoves the realization down, pushes it back.

Because she is doing this for the better of everyone.

For her parents, who only love her.

For Kyla, who only wants to make things better.

And for Ashley, who can't afford a distraction like a constantly captured girl to chase after.

And for herself, for Spencer Carlin, who just wants to live a normal life again and doesn't want to fear the nighttime anymore and can't exist in the clouds forever.

But nothing feels right about it, though.

Even as she walks into her father's embrace and she holds him tightly. Even as her mother breaks down and Spencer cries as well, forgiveness given as quickly as anger was once shown.

Even as it appears like she can pick her life up right where she left it, Spencer knows that she cannot.

Because nothing feels right and everything feels off-center and a pair of brown eyes haunt Spencer's every move.

They tease from the inside, wind-swept memories and candlelight temptations in Ashley's gaze, and Spencer can't seem to let it go.

Even as she eats dinner and even as random conversation is made and even as she smiles at her brothers - and deflects their questions.

Even as she goes upstairs, to that empty bed, and lays down in the dark - windows locked and shades drawn...

...Nothing feels right.

And Spencer sobs silently into her pillow.

/ / /

_"Don't do this, Spence... __**Please**__, don't do this..."_

_"Ash... I have to, don't you see? I can't keep living like this. I can't... I just can't."_

_"But I told you, I __**told **__you I wouldn't let anything happen to you-"_

_"That's a promise no one can keep, Ashley. Not even you."_

_And Spencer has seen Ashley drop from the sky, hit the pavement and create a fifty-foot deep hole, and crawl right back up - dusting off her ever-present leather jacket and grinning._

_She's seen the girl go through walls and be punched and have arms twisted in ways that would make anyone cringe in imagined agony._

_But Ashley Davies always shakes it off like it is nothing._

_And like a runner on the track, her feet push off and she becomes a blur of motion... and whomever was trying to keep the girl down is knocked back like a feather._

_Ashley isn't tough, not like Kyla - who can rip car doors off with her fingertips and who can move a building without breaking a sweat - but her speed gives her power._

_She is a deadly damn bird._

_But Spencer knows this hurts. It hurts in a way that Ashley cannot combat._

_Because she has laid against Ashley's chest, has heard that heart beat race and then slow - listened to it shift gears like an engine - and Spencer is the one who controls it._

_Even now as she breaks it._

_"Please..." And Ashley's voice sounds like it never has, broken and desperate._

_And Spencer ignores all the words within her, the syllables that wish to be spoken, and says what she feels she must._

_"Ashley, I'm sorry... but I just think... I think we should just end this."_

/ / /

She avoids it. And she graduates from high school. And she doesn't read the newspaper and she doesn't really watch television either.

But a person can only go so long without seeing what is consuming the world.

You eventually get exposed.

And like a person stuck in a cave for years who finally gets to see the daylight again, Spencer is blinded - blinking and breathless.

Ashley is on the front of every page, the face on every screen, the name in every blog.

Kyla is there, too.

The Davies sisters meet with the President, with heads of state, with governments. They are called in to solve situations that are decidedly 'average' instead of abnormal.

All those villains with crazy powers have backed off.

For now.

Never for good, Spencer knows this... she suspects that Ashley and Kyla know it, too.

And Spencer cannot look away now, not now that she has been reminded of what she cannot truly forget.

She studies Ashley's face when no one is around, runs over and over the jawline and remembers what the girl's cheek feels like and allows her chest to ache at the barest hint of those kisses they used to share.

When the sisters do a live press conference, Spencer doesn't want to watch it.

But like a secret all her own, her own hidden world, she brings it up on her computer - in those early morning hours - and watches like a man starved.

_**"Ashley Davies, over here... Can you address the trip to Gaza last week?"**_

_**"What about it, Mr...?"**_

_**"Albertson, Washington Press."**_

_**"Well, Mr. Albertson, we were needed to resolve a situation over there and I am glad to say that it was taken care of."**_

_**"That's very vague, Ms. Davies..."**_

_**"I know."**_

A round of knowing chuckles. Ashley's patented grin - though, Spencer notes, it is a bit dimmer, not as bright... not as real as it once was.

_**"Kyla Davies, you have anything to add to that?"**_

_**"I will say that my sister and I will do anything to assist our country in its affairs. That is why we are here."**_

Camera flashes and murmurs. Kyla leans over and says something into Ashley's ear and the girl nods imperceptibly.

_**"Yes, you in the green dress?"**_

_**"This is a question for both of you... It's been awfully quiet in the realm of your kind of enemies... Has that threat been taken care of as well?"**_

_**"I'll, uh, let Kyla take this one."**_

_**"Ashley and I are not naive enough to believe that this peaceful time will last for long, but... I am cautiously optimistic. As always, nothing is for certain."**_

There are more questions and more nondescript replies. But Spencer just watches Ashley - the subtle rolling of eyes, the squaring of shoulders, the way the girl looks so very bored by all of this - and Spencer finds herself smiling at the computer screen, glad that some things do not change.

The sisters walk away, close as always, and the secretary of defense steps up to take questions then.

And it does stay peaceful. For a while.

Spencer, finally choosing a college and moving everything into a dorm room. Her brothers off at their own schools already. Back to her parents almost every weekend for meals.

She gets good grades and she makes new friends and everyone has learned not to ask her about her time dating a super-hero.

Because Spencer Carlin won't kiss and tell, not even for money - which has been offered by many media outlets.

Her lips are sealed.

And... Ashley stays away. Which is what had to be, how it had to go.

There are no phone-calls. No flying around outside Spencer's window. Not a letter or a note or an email.

Spencer sees the girl on television and reads about her everywhere.

And that is it.

And it probably would have remained that way, on the surface things seemingly okay... but underneath it all, a longing that cannot be satisfied - only dismissed... It probably would have gone on like that for years and years, with every relationship Spencer could have had being just a tad less than the one she had with Ashley.

The unfairness lurking in the shadows of every touch with another, the ghosts of decisions made would have lingered until Spencer reached death.

But she should know, better than anyone, that the world never stays still.

Change, as they say, is the only constant.

And the shift is usually terribly jarring.

But then, it has to be... otherwise, you just don't wake the fuck up.

/ / /

_Somehow, Spencer already knew._

_She woke up with a bad feeling in her stomach, like when you haven't eaten and you are past the point of normal hunger pangs. You feel the listlessness in your gut, hollow and blank. You feel a weakness in your muscles as they refuse to pick you up and make you stand._

_And her eyes open slowly, taking in the gray dawn light, and barely hearing her roommate's snoring._

_Barely hearing anything other than a phone ringing._

_A phone that has not made a single sound in so long and Spencer's whole body goes into a state of fearful wonder - stunted movements from her bed and trembling hand reaching out, lifting the phone to her head and not able to say a thing._

_"Spencer?"_

_It is Kyla's voice and, somehow, Spencer knew it would be._

_"Dammit, Spencer, are you there? __**Answer me**__!"_

_And Spencer feels like passing out already, her body going cold, blood freezing in her veins. Her tongue is useless in her mouth. Her empty hand is subconsciously gripping the corner of her desk, gripping it so hard that it hurts and will probably cause a bruise there._

_"Kyla...?"_

_"I don't have time, okay? She doesn't have time and you need to get here."_

_"...What do you mean-"_

_"Spencer... I... Ashley, she..."_

_"What __**happened**__?"_

_But, somehow, Spencer knows._

_The impossible is now possible. The unfathomable is now painfully real._

_Kyla's voice finally breaks and the weeping is enough to make even the hardest of hearts shatter._

_"She's hurt, Spencer... she's hurt and I can't fix it... She's hurt and I can't __**fucking**__ stop it..."_

_And Spencer is walking without knowing it. Running without knowing it._

_And she is racing through a world in chaos, because the heroes are losing this time and the bad guys are winning and Spencer takes no notice of the panic along the campus, no notice of anyone or anything... not even Kyla's ragged sobs echoing in her ear..._

_Spencer is running, air forced into her lungs like a fist._

_She is trying to fly, after so long of pretending that she didn't want to or didn't need to._

_She is trying to fly back to Ashley before it is too late._

_If it isn't already._

_If it isn't already too late._

/ / /

No one knows where the Davies sisters live. Spencer was only shown once, after The Mind Reader incident, and that was more of an accident really.

She always kept her eyes closed, at the behest of Kyla and for her own safety.

'The less you know, the less they can hurt you.'

Or something like that. Of course, pain has a way of happening, doesn't matter how much you do to prevent it.

All those wrong-doers tried to hurt Spencer - in order to wound Ashley - but it didn't do the trick.

Spencer did that all on her own, in the end.

She walked away. She took off without a glance back. She told the love of her life that things just couldn't work out.

Spencer Carlin did what all those others could not - she defeated Ashley Davies.

The house is well hidden and Spencer brushes past walls of ivy and deep into the forest - she presses her hand to the recognition device and the door silently swings open.

And it is so quiet inside.

Like a tomb and Spencer hates her morbid thoughts, hates the silence, hates that the world is falling apart out there and... and...

And then there she is and Spencer suddenly hates everything, everyone... but that girl, that girl on the floor and not moving and surrounded by a pool of rich red blood.

That girl is the one thing, the one person, that Spencer loves in the whole universe.

"She was trying to save this kid, you know, and it was so simple looking... so easy and she looked **so** happy to help him and she smiled down at me, like always... but it was a trap and I should have seen it coming, I should have **fucking** seen it coming... I should have **seen** it..."

Kyla's voice is distant somehow, Spencer hearing it through a fog. She drops to her knees slowly, edging closer and closer to Ashley's still frame against the marble tiles.

"This... **thing** came up out of the ground and I tried to fight it off, god did I try... and then, Ashley was down there and there were others and everything was crazy after that. They were **everywhere**, multiplying over and over, tricking us and people were getting hurt and we tried to save them, we tried to **save them**, Spencer... we were trying to **fucking** save them all and... and I looked over and I saw it, I saw that **damn** thing just... I saw it happen. And I killed it, but... not soon enough. Not soon enough."

Kyla is crying once more, rocking back and forth and clutching Ashley's hand.

And Spencer is shaking, almost uncontrollably, as she looks at Ashley - eyes shut and face pale and skin slightly cool to the touch.

If she were listening closely, Spencer could probably hear the ringing of alarms - the warning signal that the sisters set up to alert them to peril around the globe, a way to stay on top of things - or she could even possibly hear the planes over-head, military scanning the skies and attempting to stop other-worldly threats.

She might even be able to hear the terror, the screams of people as they flee for the their lives... as the bad guys wreak havoc, as the bad guys destroy, as the bad guys take this opportunity to take over...

But all Spencer can hear is her own voice, soft and pleading.

"Don't do this... Don't do this, Ash..." Spencer whispers, leaning down and brushing those lips with her own. And her hands rest gingerly against Ashley's chest, shirt soaked through with life, damp to the touch.

Somewhere, in that cage of bones and supernatural muscle, Spencer wants to feel that heart beat - she wants to feel that which she broke and tossed away.

"You said you'd be there... you **said** you'd be there to catch me if I fell and I... I'm falling, Ashley... I'm **falling**..."

She cradles the cheek and rubs her thumb over the flesh and Ashley looks like a Monet painting now, clouded by Spencer's unshed tears, and she kisses the girl again.

And again. And again.

And Spencer cries harder, drifting away and down, placing stumbling lips upon the jaw and the temple.

"Save me..." Spencer hushes into Ashley's ear.

And she repeats it. She keeps saying it. She keeps saying it, hoping and praying for it to come true.

Because the world needs heroes, true... but Spencer needs a hero, too.

Spencer needs **this** hero.

And all she wants is the chance to take it all back, the months away and the things left unsaid. All she wants is the chance to look into Ashley's eyes once more.

But, this time, to never look away.

Then, Spencer feels it.

One. Two. Three. Beat. Beat. Beat. And she rears back quickly, wondering if it is a mistake or an illusion.

Beat... Beat... Beat...

But it is no illusion. It is real. It is Ashley's heart, picking up speed with every second. Rapid and strong, thrumming under Spencer's palms.

And she stares so hard, waiting for more... begging for more... craving more.

And, without thinking, Spencer says it all out loud - pulling Kyla from her sorrowful stupor.

"Save me, Ashley. You've got to, okay? You made a promise to me and... and I need you to save me. Now. **Right now**. C'mon, Ashley... you're fucking Batman, remember? **Save**. **Me**."

Beat. Beat. Beat. Faster and faster.

And then the fluttering of eyelids. And then the sharp intake of breath. And then Ashley's eyes open, slightly dazed and darting around. Like she had just been deeply asleep. Like she had just been jerked from a dream. Not at all like she had been close to death, stomach ripped up and wounded almost beyond repair. Not at all like she had lost so much blood.  
Not at all like a girl about to die.

And Kyla is in shock as Ashley sits up, hissing in pain, but is quick to action - assessing the damage and asking questions and hugging her sister in a vice-grip that would crack the spine of normal people.

And Ashley is speaking, telling her sister not to worry and that it was just her body repairing - surely, hopefully - but her gaze is trained on Spencer.

Right on Spencer, aim true and sure, and as Kyla hugs her tightly... Ashley turns her palm upward, an offering to Spencer, and Spencer takes it.

This time, she takes it and means to keep it.

This time, she means to stay.

/ / /

_Is there a happily ever after? Does such a thing exist?_

_Maybe in fairy tales. Maybe in storybooks that you read as a child, maybe in fantasies that parents teach you to believe - before the real world rips them away._

_But... maybe... they do happen._

_Maybe they do come true._

_And it won't be like you imagine, white horse and knights and castles. It won't even be like your adult mind pictures, money and fame and big house on the beach._

_Because this world is not a made-for-television drama._

_You are not some regular rags-to-riches kind of person._

_And even though, at first, girls who can fly and men who can kill you with their thoughts seemed like a dream... now it is just commonplace._

_Well, as commonplace as something like that can be._

_As commonplace as it can be to soar up in the air without wings. As commonplace as it can be to get thrown into another state and pop right up two seconds later, right where you started._

_As commonplace as it can be for newscasters to report on the scores of games one minute and about a new super-villain called The Deadly Flame in the next minute, as if it happens all the time._

_Which it does._

_Life is one giant mystery and no one can ever figure it out._

_Like... how did one man know to create two girls, to form them into powerful machines, to set them up to rescue the world?_

_Like... how did those girls decide not to run away from their fate and to be there when no one else can be, a light in the dark?_

_Like... how does love even start up with all of that going on? How do two people even find one another when everything is crazy and everyone is out for something?_

And they still ask Spencer questions and she still does not answer.

She keeps it private, all the things she has learned and all she has seen. She just smiles and nods and shuts the door in their faces.

It's not for them anyway, what she shares with Ashley, it's for her alone.

Spencer can't tell the press that the only time she has ever seen Ashley nervous is when she finally brought her to meet the parents. And how Paula scared Ashley into silence, tight-lipped and wide-eyed, with lots of 'ma'am' and 'sirs' as the only words from her mouth.

She can't tell the papers that Ashley loves ice-cream at midnight and cries over sappy romantic films. She can't tell all the blogs about how Ashley can't clean to save her life - even if she can save a million people in one day.

Or, rather, Spencer **won't** tell them. This is for her, this is for them, this is their life away from the turmoil - a sliver of time that is just for the two of them.

Because Spencer accepts it now, the danger and the risk. She accepts the nights up waiting for Ashley to return and the kernel of doubt that says there will be a night where Ashley won't return. She accepts that on her back is a target, a bullseye she willingly wears and that others take full advantage of - she is the Lois Lane in this tall tale and she knows it.

Because the world comes before her and Spencer can finally accept that, can finally let it be.

Because, for Ashley, Spencer always comes before the world.

And that makes everything just about perfect.

Even-steven and all that, a balance that culminates in a kiss and arms around each other as they slumber, a safe place to land.

_Is there a happily ever after?_

Spencer knows the answer, she's just not telling.

/ / /

**END**


End file.
